With the growth of Internet commerce, the electronic wallet (e-wallet), also known as a digital wallet, has been developed. An e-wallet provides consumers with a secure and convenient way to pay for purchases from accepting on-line merchants. Upon registration, consumers may store their card, billing and shipping information on a site hosted by a suitable entity, and may access that information to pay conveniently and securely across participating merchants. The e-wallet platform may deliver additional security with the use of “virtual” account numbers to mask cardholders' real information.
Many foreign consumers now have a strong desire to shop overseas in the US and the UK. The US and UK are perceived as providing more options, better pricing, and a more pleasant experience in shopping. Many consumers go to the US on shopping sprees from all over the world.
In addition, broadband capability has been increasing around the world, often growing 150% on a yearly basis. There is also a stronger middle class in rapidly developing nations such as Brazil, India, China, and Russia. Consumers from these jurisdictions are finding their way to merchant web sites in the US and UK. 19% of all the browsing done on US e-merchants today is from consumers in other countries. However, US merchants for the most part do not accept foreign cards due to liability concerns. About 40% do accept foreign cards online; however, they accept foreign cards from only a handful of countries; say, 10-30 countries. Even when they do accept foreign cards, they typically do not ship overseas. Thus, there are barriers to both acceptance and fulfillment for foreigners wishing to purchase from US e-merchants.
Even for a US merchant that does ship all over the world, overseas shoppers have transparency issues as they may not be advised what taxes, customs duties, and the like will be due when the order arrives in their particular country; in some instances, they may not even be aware of the shipping charges.